HOW much is a human life worth in Pakistan? Not more than peanuts, given the impunity with which people are being killed in this benighted country of ours. The state’s failure — or lack of will — to protect the life of its citizens is at the root of this tragedy.

In this context, I am reminded of two women — one dead, the other on death row. One was a dear friend. The other is a stranger whose community has been my benefactor. I owe my education to Christian missionaries who gave me knowledge and taught me, by example, to respect and be tolerant of all faiths.

Perween Rahman and Asiya Bibi have nothing in common except that they are symbols of our quest for justice and sanctity of life in a society that thrives on hate and violence. Continue reading Worth of a life→

PAKISTAN’S first Nobel Laureate, Prof Abdus Salam, constantly lamented our failure to promote science. His contributions to theoretical physics apart, he was a powerful advocate of science and research. For decades, even after he had left Pakistan in protest, Salam’s love for his homeland and concern for his government’s failure to promote science was undiminished. He continued to plead the case for science through his speeches, writings and the institutions he founded, till he died in 1996.

It is a pity that 18 years after his death, science in Pakistan continues to languish as the neglected stepchild of state and society. It never recovered from the severe blow it suffered under Ziaul Haq’s Islamisation and anti-education policies. Not that science and research had received preferential treatment at any stage, but today their survival is endangered. Continue reading No science culture→

The so-called youth bulge in Pakistan has now become visible. One young woman making news around the world of late is 17-year-old Malala Yusufzai, who was named the youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in early October.

Not that Pakistan has not been a young country for several decades. The country’s high population growth rate over the 1980s and 1990s means more than a quarter of the country’s population of 182 million today is between 15 and 29 years of age, which is how youth is defined by the United Nations. However, it is only in times of turbulence, as Pakistan is experiencing at present, that the youth’s presence has become pronounced. Two democratic elections in a row – in 2008 and 2013— have focused public attention on young voters.In the May 2013 general election it is said that about a third of the registered voters were under 29 (that worked out to 25 million in absolute numbers) and many of them would be casting ballots for the first time. The political parties took note, and all of them included plans for the youth in their election manifestos. Continue reading Pakistan’s Youth: The Light at the End of the Tunnel→

The challenges that Pakistan’s young people face today are significant and pervasive, and can be addressed only through sweeping systemic changes. Notwithstanding these challenges, many young people are defying great odds to become conscientious and engaged members of society. They are innovative in devising activities for themselves.

Karachi, a city of 18 million, is often plagued by violence and crime. Yet these young people have found effective platforms—self-created or provided by sponsors—for tiatives to tackle their numerous problems.

First Response Initiative of Pakistan (FRIP)

The idea of FRIP was born in 2010 at the scene of a bomb blast. Dr. Jahanzeb Effendi—then a medical student—was a horrified witness to the devastation and human suffering that followed. What shook him more was the amateurish response of rescue workers, security forces and volunteers to the emergency. They had no idea how to give assistance to the injured. Effendi, who was 23 at the time, decided to get trained as a first responder so that he could help people in such situations.He mobilized his fellow students and established an organization dedicated to training people in basic life-saving techniques in emergencies. FRIP conducts first response training for medical students and young doctors, who then in turn teach the techniques to personnel from various security agencies. FRIP has specifically tailored its comprehensive training course to indigenous trauma needs. The group also organizes free-of-charge awareness campaigns.“The average Pakistani knows absolutely nothing about first aid and some of the practices adopted actually hurt the trauma victim,” said Dr. Nadir Haider, who joined FRIP as a medical student.Today, FRIP has a membership of about 100 medical students and doctors, all trained first responders. Effendi is satisfied with FRIP’s progress and explained how 30 youth from the low-income area of Moach Goth who were also trained are now responsible for helping victims of trauma in their violence-riddled neighborhood.

Funding is still a challenge. Haider insisted that “life-saving knowledge should be available to everyone free of charge.” Hence these young men and women are volunteering their services without any compensation and the equipment they use has been donated by Indus Hospital.

Haider describes youth as the phase of life in which a person has the energy and the passion to help the community. “The future of health care in Pakistan is entirely dependent on young doctors and the choices they make,” he said.

The Karachi Walla

Karachi’s charming culture has been under threat for years. Violence and instability are its biggest enemies. Elders reminisce about the city’s glorious past of which the younger generation has little awareness. Yet young Karachiites have not given up on the city. Farooq Soomro was 29 when he took it on himself to unearth the city’s hidden gems five years ago. He would conduct walking tours around the city’s many scenic locations.

Soomro launched this adventure when he realized he didn’t really know the city where he was born. He looked to the Internet to explore it but was disappointed by the lack of information to satisfy his quest. Knowing about The Delhi Walla, a website that has helped many Indians discover the incredible city of Delhi, Soomro wanted something similar for Karachi. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Soomro began putting up photos of the places in the city that he discovered during his many excursions.

When his blog The Karachi Walla took off, he met many other Karachiites like him who wished to know their city better. By popular demand, Soomro began organizing walking tours around the city. “Initially my clients were mainly tourists,” he explained. “But now a lot of Karachi youngsters have shown a keen interest in finding out more about their city.”

Soomro takes people to see lesser-known places in Karachi, such as the community houses of the Goan Christians, Sikh gurdwaras and Masonic lodges. He credits social networks and online platforms such as Instagram and Flickr for reigniting an interest in Karachi, especially in the city’s young people.

Soomro believes that the youth view Karachi from a fresh perspective. “While older people long for the city of yore, we [young people] are pragmatic and see the city in a new light, embracing its decaying beauty unconditionally,” he said.

Nritaal

Progress in the creative and performing arts in Pakistan is hindered by creeping religious fundamentalism. Nevertheless, there are artistic young people who chase their dreams. For 20-year-old Suhaee Abro, dance is a passion that she refuses to give up. Having practiced classical dance since the age of 7 with renowned dancer Sheema Kermani, Abro believes that dance is her destiny, despite the fact that dancing professionally is frowned upon by conservative elements in society.

To promote the performing arts—notably dance, music, theater and poetry—Abro, along with her artist father Khuda Bux Abro and musician friend Ahsan Bari, co-founded Nritaal. This music and dance group, which consists of young and aspiring artists, was named by combining the words “nrit” (dance or theater) and “taal” (rhythm). It reflects the group’s idea of combining different art forms in new and innovative ways. The group puts together dance performances accompanied by live music.

Abro says that the best part about young dancers and musicians is their ability to bring freshness into traditional dance forms. “Young people inject creative ideas into this genre,” she said. “There are many young people like me who like to present the old art forms in a new style.” Abro believes there is a lot of passion and potential for dance as it provides an avenue for the expression of youthful talent and creativity, giving a sense of fulfilment to the performers. But she laments the dearth of opportunities. “There are only a few places that support or teach dance and music and their charges are generally high,” she said.

Lyari Youth Cafe

Nestled among the narrow, winding streets of Lyari, an area of Karachi with 1 million people and a history of drugs, crime and gang violence, is a safe haven for the youth. Known as the Lyari Youth Cafe, the two-story building (with a third under construction) is a meeting spot for young people. The venue holds regular film screenings and organizes plays as well as art and music contests to foster creativity and talent. Bakhtawar Imtiaz, a 17-year-old Lyari resident who is doing her A Levels (high school) in the social sciences, is one of several young volunteers at the cafe. “Every evening we hold one session or another to engage and entertain the youth. Sometimes they are just discussions about the goings-on in the city and around the world,” she said.

According to Bakhtawar, the opening of the cafe has significantly changed Lyari. “Before the cafe, young boys would loiter around the neighborhood tea shops and waste their time,” she explained. “And the girls would be confined to their homes.” The youth craved for a place of their own. Now 50 or 60 girls and boys show up in the evenings for the cafe sessions. Charging a modest membership fee of Rs 60 (60 cents) a month, the cafe serves free tea and coffee to visitors. Cafe volunteers tweet about their upcoming events to inform interested members.

To augment the education of the youth, the cafe arranges free tutoring for children of the neighborhood. Zohaib Panhwar, 20, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration, is a volunteer teacher there. “The biggest challenge Lyari children face is the inaccessibility of education,” he said. Young boys do not want to study because they believe they will never find a job if they do. Girls become dropouts on the insistence of their families.

Earlier this year, the cafe organized a screening of documentaries made by 25 teenagers of Lyari. Titled “Stories of Lyari,” the event showed 10-minute films depicting stories of courage, resilience and ambition—the way the residents of Lyari really see their neighborhood. Bakhtawar, who is passionate about photography and moviemaking, was among those whose films were screened. She recalls the hardships faced by aspiring moviemakers. “There were gunshots and bomb blasts two streets away,” she remembered, “but we went ahead and made our films anyway.”

Sohail Rahi, 44, and Nadeem Baig, 45, the duo who established the Lyari Youth Cafe in Karachi, Pakistan in 2012, were in their twenties when they first took up the cause of the youth in their neighborhood. In 1990, they began organizing street schools to make education accessible to the underprivileged boys and girls of Lyari. Two years ago, the idea of the street schools was developed further, and the Youth Café was launched.

When I visited them recently, we sat on the rooftop of the two-story building in the heart of the city’s bustling Lyari neighborhood that houses their brainchild. On one end of the roof is a small kitchen designed to provide free tea and coffee to visitors. The remaining area has small tables and chairs. On the floors below are makeshift desks where free classes are held for local children. The walls are covered with bright handmade posters proclaiming messages of peace and positivity Continue reading Creating a Safe Haven for Pakistan’s Youth→

THE buzzword these days is ‘empowerment’ and there is a lot of talk about empowering the people. The most vocal are political leaders who use the term randomly as a strategy to empower themselves politically.

True empowerment, however, envisages equipping people with tools they can use to achieve a decent life for themselves and their families which can be got through education, employment, healthcare, a roof above their heads and the sense of dignity they acquire when they do not have to be permanently dependent on others to sustain themselves. An example of how people are empowered pertains to the Ali Hasan Mangi Memorial Trust which was set up by Mr Mangi’s granddaughter Naween to draw out the innate capacity of the 3,500-strong community of Khairo Dero to uplift itself.

The main tools that have been identified by the trust for empowerment are education, literacy, healthcare, microcredit for income generation and building homes and getting water supply and sanitation on a self-help basis. The fact is that until the basic needs of a people are met and a sense of security provided to them, they cannot strive for higher goals. AHMMT works, as its vision statement says, with the aim of building a “model village that can be replicated”. Continue reading People’s power→

EDUCATION, or rather the lack of it, in Pakistan has made world headlines on a number of occasions. Last week, the issue was once again in the limelight, but with a positive twist. Malala Yousafzai, our young campaigner for education, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala has done us proud as did Prof Abdus Salam 35 years ago when he became Pakistan’s first Nobel laureate (for physics).

Malala’s commitment to campaigning for girls’ education and her fearlessness in defying the Taliban have made her an icon. In spite of the danger to her life, she challenged the militants and their perverse mindset that led them to blow up hundreds of schools in the country. She has inspired many girls in Pakistan. Today, this inspiration is needed not so much to convince girls that education can empower them, as to instil the courage in them to resist the brutal opposition they face from vested anti-social elements, and not just the Taliban and their ilk. Continue reading Nobel for Malala→

WITH Pakistan more concerned about the existential threat it faces, one is hardly surprised that not much is heard of the MDGs — those elusive eight points called the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the UN in 2000 to be met in 15 years. The deadline is approaching and it is time for scrutiny of the report card.

How has the world fared on this count? The UN MDG report of 2014 observes that these goals have made a “profound difference in people’s lives and the first goal of halving poverty was achieved five years ahead of the 2015 time frame. Ninety per cent of children in developing regions now enjoy primary education, and disparities between boys and girls in enrolment have narrowed”.

It speaks of remarkable gains having also been made in all health indicators. According to the UN, the target of halving the proportion of people who lack access to improved sources of water has also been met. The UN, however, concludes that a lot more still needs to be done to accelerate progress. As it is, the goals did not seek universal coverage in all sectors. Every goal had varying targets. If the global results pleased the UN it is understandable. Some countries performed infinitely better than others. Continue reading Elusive goals→

LAST week Scotland decided its destiny. It came to the brink of independence and then pulled back. In the closing days of campaigning it was estimated that several thousands of the 4.2 million voters were undecided till the last. When the ballots were cast on Sept 18 over 55pc voted to stay in the union.

The 45pc who voted for change were overruled by the majority and conceded defeat. Alex Salmond, the first minister of Scotland whose Scottish National Party spearheaded the movement for an independent Scotland, announced his decision to step down.

Negotiations will follow in the coming months as more devolution of power is on the cards as has been promised by the Westminster parties in a last-ditch attempt to lure the Scots back from an irrevocable breach. Continue reading Scottish referendum→

A MAJOR issue being debated in Britain today concerns the Muslims — men and women. It is what is termed the radicalisation of their youth.

Concerns were sparked off by the Islamic State (formerly Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) when its militants beheaded James Foley, an American journalist covering the war in Syria, and circulated a video of the bestial act. Even before this incident grabbed the headlines, media reports had been suggesting that authorities in London believed that as many as 500 Muslim men with British nationality had left the UK to join the IS ‘jihad’. Continue reading IS and the youth→